Contents

Understand

Um.. This section is going to have to be put in prose and each point explained. I have no idea what some of these things are. And this "the land of..the land of..the land of.." is just goofy. Texugo 02:10, 4 December 2008 (EST)

I deleted it... someone is clearly trying to sell Bihar as a tourist destination, and while it has a couple points of interest, it's mostly just the butt of many jokes, and widely known as the armpit of India. I don't know that we should make it look quite that bad in the article, but I'll continue to revert edits that try to paint it as wonderland – cacahuatetalk 02:52, 4 December 2008 (EST)

I would request users to stop being racist and insulting the people and the land.

it's mostly just the butt of many jokes, and widely known as the armpit of India.

The above line don't says anything about Bihar, but about the person who speaks it. For God's sake stop ranting. Is there no rule on this website? Manoj nav 05:32, 4 December 2008 (EST)

Improvement

The article needs a lot of improvement. Many new article related on places in Bihar has to be started.

Bihar had many important tourist places like Bodh Gaya, Gaya, Nalanda, Patna, Vaisali etc, which are important to Buddhist tourists, who visit these sites every year in huge number. We need good tourist information guide for all these places. These articles should also convey information about the improved law and order situation in the state.

I think there is going to have to be a compromise here. Instead of erasing what was previously written here, it's probably better to qualify it, using phrases like, for example, "Bihar is often referred to as the armpit of India due to its inferior infrastructure and faults in government management, but for the determined traveller, Bihar does offer a number of sites which belie its rich history." Or, "Although its history has been overshadowed by blablabla, interested travellers will find some offbeat attractions" etc. To give a balanced view, I think the traveler needs to be aware of any lacking infrastructure or social/safety problems which may arise, yet we do need to describe the points of interest that it does have. Facts about crime indices, etc., are indeed facts and shouldn't be suppressed, and I think even the William Dalyrimple quote should stay. But it doesn't have to stop you from describing the good points as well. Texugo 07:36, 4 December 2008 (EST)

This - ""Bihar is often referred to as the armpit of India due to its inferior infrastructure and faults in government management, but for the determined traveller, Bihar does offer a number of sites which belie its rich history." Or, "Although its history has been overshadowed by blablabla, interested travellers will find some offbeat attractions" , again is a rant.

Who is William Dalyrimple and what makes his statement so important? His statement, even thought it might his truth, is just a rant. Have you visited Bihar? Do tourists visit Bihar to discover the poverty of the region? Tourists go there to see the land, monuments, to discover the people, to see farmlands, rivers, festivals and not the poverty. Who in this world is interested in other's poverty? William Dalyrimple's statement, which is in a bad tone, deserves no place here. Even if Bihar is the poorest place on the whole planet, so what? Is it a crime to be poor?

I think the traveler needs to be aware of any lacking infrastructure or social/safety problems.? It should be there in the title safty, restricted to the fact that it helps the travelers.

I personally think it has a place here, I find it to be good writing actually, but feel free to continue the paragraphs with some pluses like...

"...things have slowly improved recently, but there's still a long way to go. However the travellers who do venture here, are rewarded with a wealth of unique culture, impressive nature and friendly locals etc..."

I would like to forward a similar discussion, on the same topic, which took place on wikipedia - here .

Dalrymple and a few others are known Bihar baiters whose writing should be taken in the right perspective. He has even denigrated the supreme sacrifice of the leader of the 1857 Mangal Pandey. Dalrymple comment is more in a bad tone. The circumstances in which he would have said this would be totally different. Manoj nav 09:50, 4 December 2008 (EST)

Instead of placing the following controversial section in the article, so that people can have a lot at it and discuss, it is better to have it in the discussion page it self.

Whatever index of prosperity and development you choose, Bihar comes triumphantly at the bottom. It has the lowest literacy, the highest number of deaths in police custody, the worst roads, the highest crime, the fewest cinemas. Its per capita income is less than half the Indian average. Not long ago it even had a major famine. -- William Dalrymple, The Age of Kali

Ancient Bihar was the birthplace of the Maurya Empire, the largest ever to rule the Indian subcontinent, and the site of the Buddha's enlightenment. Unfortunately the Maurya Empire collapsed in 185 BCE, and it's been downhill ever since. Struck by severe recession in the 1990s that saw Bihar become a byword for poverty, corruption and crime, things have slowly improved recently, but there's still a long way to go.

Why to place a controversial section in the article at all until there is a concencus? I am removing the controversial section.
Manoj nav 10:01, 4 December 2008 (EST)

OK, please try to listen to the points being made. You are essentially "fighting" a group of rather experienced users; me,Jpatokal, Texugo and WindHorse, while I haven't - I know some of these guys have travelled India quite extensively, and I hardly think you can disqualify all of us as "Bihar bashers". You should at least stop and consider that all of us are essentially saying the same thing; STOP fighting/disqualifying factual information (and good writing), and spend the passionate energy you obviously have for the place, on telling users why - despite the poor population, crumbling infrastructure, and caste uprisings - it's a fantastic place that they should go see - maybe look at some of the American states - like Alaska or Florida for inspiration. Considering this is the site of Buddha's enlightenment, and a pilgrimage destination as far as I can gather, there should be more than enough subjects to dive into... just remember that region articles should be mainly prose, and listings should go on the city articles. Stefan 02:16, 5 December 2008 (EST)

Experience on wikitravel doesn't necessarily means an experience on the topic Bihar. Anyways I never go for a self praise.

Kindly verify before you call something factual information. Stereotypes are not factual informations. Using terms like 'crumbling infrastructure' shows your ignorance. There are lesser infrastructure like roads, airports, hospitals .. but it doesn't mean that they are crumbling. Manoj nav 02:45, 5 December 2008 (EST)

Cities

There is one city too many listed, magic number is 9, which one should we ditch?

William Dalrymple

...is a historian, travel writer and journalist (WP) who has spent nearly two decades living in and covering India, and his books are mandatory reading for anybody who wants to even attempt to understand India. But the point of the quote is not his opinion, but the facts he states:

Whatever index of prosperity and development you choose, Bihar comes triumphantly at the bottom. It has the lowest literacy, the highest number of deaths in police custody, the worst roads, the highest crime, the fewest cinemas. Its per capita income is less than half the Indian average. Not long ago it even had a major famine.-- William Dalrymple, The Age of Kali

If you disagree with that, then show me a state in India which has lower literacy, higher deaths in police custody, worse roads, higher crime or fewer cinemas than Bihar. Jpatokal 00:57, 5 December 2008 (EST)

...and oh, there actually is one factual inaccuracy in that. These days, Bihar's GDP per capita is not half the Indian average... it's one fifth ($148 vs $997). Jpatokal 01:05, 5 December 2008 (EST)

There are so many historian and so many journalist. I didn't even knew about William_Dalrymple before I ran into this discussion.

Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have earned the dubious distinction of topping the list of states reporting the most number of crime
cases in the country, which registered over 19.89 lakh cases.

Deaths

Our greatest achievement: longer lives : In terms of per capita income, the richest major state, Maharashtra is four times as rich as Bihar. Yet, life expectancy in Bihar (61 years) is only slightly behind that of Maharashtra (66.4 years). Bihar is almost on par with the national life expectancy of 62.7 years.

Number of deaths in police custody is not an index of prosperity and development, on the other hand life expectancy surely is.

Literacy : Dismissing the state as the most illiterate makes no sense. One should look at figures to see how there is a gradual increase in the literacy in last many years. - [1] . Women literacy has increased to 33.57% from 4.22% in last 50 years. On the other hand there are states like West Bengal [2], which were far better in the past. But now they are barely above Bihar.

These information should be given in right prospective and not in a biased way.

Hi Jpatokal would you please enlighten the tourists about these information through the respective pages. Manoj nav 01:50, 5 December 2008 (EST)

Poor image of Bihar

After independence , when India was falling into an autocratic rule during the regime of Indira Gandhi, the main thrust to the movement to hold elections came from Bihar under the leadership of Jaya Prakash Narayan.

This resulted in two things:

The identity of Bihar (from the word Vihar meaning monasteries) representing a glorious past was lost. Its voice often used to get lost in the din of regional clamor of other states, specially the linguistic states like Uttar pradesh, Madhya pradesh etc.

Bihar gained an anti-establishment image. The establishment oriented press often projected the state as indiscipline and anarchy.